] I noticed that on page 118, there is a reference to children as olive branches, a confirmation that Mr. Collins really was talking about Charlotte being pregnant when he wrote to Mr. Bennet towards the end of P&P.

A little Collin's would act as an Olive Branch (reconcilation?), but I'm puzzled. William Ramsdan uses the expression but as far as I can tell he and Betsy weren't on bad terms with their families, was Olive Branch a word generally used for children, like kids today do you think?